Story
Ancient Lore (CQ Classic) Main Story Genesis At the beginning of time there was only darkness, reigned by Osk-Ro. From the darkness, three entities emerged - Foc, Aigua and Terra, who would eventually become known as the first gods of the cosmos. These entities rose from the darkness and created an immense material realm to live in outside of Osk-Ro's domain. Aigua and Terra forged a close bond, and decorated the earth. Terra decorated the surface with plants and animals and Aigua filled oceans and rivers with water and fish. Meanwhile, Foc had two daughters, Diurna and Nocturna, who devoted themselves to illuminate the surface. Ancestors Eventually the three gods began to create creatures in their own image. Aigua's creatures, the Tritons, dominated the oceans, oblivious to happenings on the surface. Foc's creation, the Pigmen and Terra's Minotaurs shared the surface under the Light of Diurna and her younger sister Nocturna. Over the years, Nocturna started to feel jealous of her older sister. Her jealousy grew and eventually led her to contact Osk-Ro, whose influence quickly corrupted Nocturna. Day and Night After Nocturna was corrupted by Osk-Ro's influence, she left the limits of the surface, leaving half of the world unlit, and creating the cycle of day and night. The lack of light hours caused alterations to the surface creatures, who began to attack devour each other for survival. Terra and Foc, unhappy with the behavior of their creatures, channeled their essences to create two powerful dragons: Gotterkunken, Foc's emissary with the powers of fire, and Mithril, Terra's emissary with skin as hard as diamond. Terra and Foc sent their emissaries to the surface to subdue the rioting creatures and confine them in other dimensions. Unknown to the other gods, Aigua also created her own emissary, Ourobora, but instructed her creation to remain hidden deep in the ocean. To replace their unruly creations, the gods created little creatures, similar to their predecessors but smaller and more advanced minds. Foc's creatures, the Goblins, were known for their great strength even with their small size. They settled into tribes who roamed and lived in camps on the surface world. Terra's new creation, the Dwarves, were very intelligent and social creatures, who lived in large communities and built great fortresses. Both races shared the surface for thousands of years as they expanded. Fire Wars One day an epidemic began to affect the Goblins, who went mad and began to burn everything. This provoked skirmishes between Goblins and Dwarves. The Dwarves gradually gave up ground to the superior numbers of the goblins, and fled from their homes to take refuge in caves. Tritons appeared on the surface for the first time, but given their inexperience in battle, they could not contribute much. Certain tribes established new bases in rivers lakes. Dwarves fortified caves and they discovered gunpowder and created simple fire weapons to defend themselves. The goblins continued devastating the surface until the first orcs appeared. Similar in temperament but larger in size, orcs subjected most of the goblins, though some Goblin tribes who penetrated into dwarf caves lived there without Orc control. With the passing of time and the lack of light and food from the surface, they morphed into what are now known as Gremlins. Transition After the Fire War ended, Dwarves established their home on the strongholds they had created in the caves, while continuing to delve deeper and expand. They also began to establish trade routes with some Orcs on the surface. Some Dwarven enclaves came into conflict with the vicious gremlins, necessitating new technological discoveries to deal with the encroaching threat. This time of innovation led to the creation of the first mounted war golems. Orcs established new tribes with the remaining bands of goblins. Some inhabited abandoned Dwarven strongholds, while others kept living in roaming surface camps. Most of these newly established tribes survived on roaming hunting expeditions and living off of materials they could gather from the land. However, over time the creatures on the surface began to mutate and grow more dangerous, requiring the Orcs and Goblins to become more skilled fighters in order to survive. Void Invasion After a century of relative stability, the world was thrown into chaos again. Invaders began to appear from deep within the ancient Dwarven stronghold known as the Impregnable Fortress. Abyss Walkers quickly slaughtered the inhabitants and spilled out to the nearby area, conquering everything in their path. Most Orc camps were devastated by the hordes of the Abyss, though some Orcs were able to retreat to the coast or the mountains. The Dwarves set barricades at the entrances to the caves with their new battleships and guns, and with the help of refugee Orcs from the surface on the front lines, they managed to hold most of the blockades. Emboldened by word of the Dwarves' victory, Tritons left their submarine shelters to rescue some Orc camps. Despite all the efforts of the living creatures, walkers kept advancing in all directions. At the gates of one of the surviving Orc settlements, three bright lights appeared in the sky, accompanied by a group of unfamiliar creatures on the ground. Humans, a new creation born of Foc, Aigua, and Terra, were accompanied by the three dragon emissaries who had been not yet been seen since the invasion started. The addition of the gods' champions changed the course of the battle. With the help of dragons there was a rapid advance against the armies of the Abyss. All three of the dragons fell in battle, but the armies of the living narrowly succeeded in repelling the attack. When each of the dragons fell, they were transformed into eggs that rose to the sky and were dispersed throughout the world. Though the Walker army's numbers were severely depleted, in the aftermath of the battle they regrouped and marched north. Empire After the invasion, the world became very dangerous at night. Without the magical protection of the dragons on the surface world, dead bodies started to rise to create the Undead. Dwarves, Orcs and Tritons came into conflict over settlements previously conquered by Walkers. Humans formed the Empire under King Otbrael I, who led them during the Invasion of the Void, and who created the Citadel for the survivors. After several conflicts, Otbrael I gathered the leaders of the different races at a cocoa farm, and there signed the Treaty of Cocoa, establishing a tentative peace for many years. The human empire was expanded with the help of the other races, under the reign of King Otbrael were 50 years of peace, and the Inquisition was founded to hunt the creatures of the night. With the death of the King, the Empire began a decline, a civil war started for the succession to the throne and many humans left the Citadel to engage in piracy or witchcraft. Others established colonies and devoted to farming and trading. Decline Over the years the Cocoa treaty was forgotten. Different races began to retreat to within their territories and pursue technologies to get the edge over the other races under the treaty. Humans were quickly growing in number. While most of them were engaged in developing their agriculture and economy or fighting each other for territory, some humans devoted themselves to witchery and black magic. The dark echoes from the magic called across the void, spawning more dangerous of the night. The Diurna Inquisition kept growing, eventually becoming one of the most powerful factions, containing devoted members from each race. However, over time its reputation as a force against the night has diminished, as some of its members started to take up work as mercenaries. Dwarves began to trade with some Humans, sometimes even sending golems to defend Human villages. Dwarves continued to investigate new firearms and refine golem technology while still fighting against the remaining gremlins left in cave systems. Orcs share the surface with humans, mainly inhabiting warm areas like deserts. They have become experts in hunting monsters and forging weapons and special armour. Tritons live deep hiding their cities under the ocean from the menace of pirates, and are rarely seen on the surface. Chocolate Quest: restoration of the Cocoa Treaty 1000 years later, a vortex took a new human to this dimension... Side Stories King Otbrael Before being nobles, King Otbrael and his sisters Princess Namu and princess Amadá were leaders of a band of mercenaries. With his troops and part of the army of King John III, King Otbrael's army advanced to besiege the castle where the princess Lelana, daughter of King John III was held captive. Out of nowhere, a vortex started to form around them, absorbed them all, and spat them on a place they had never seen before. Far away in the sky they could see three giant shadows approaching. Panic began to spread among the army. Otbrael took command of his troops and established a first line while his sisters commanded the troops of King John forming, a second line of archers. When the shadows approached they could distinguish three giant dragons. Many men broke formation and ran terrified. Screamed Amadá and Namu ordered the archers to loose arrows, once dragons were at range. No arrow managed to penetrate it's target. The three dragons landed around the soldiers, and when they were about to charge, the green dragon shouted, "Quiet, We won't harm you." Soldiers stood motionless, with drawn swords, and the dragon kept speaking, "I'm sure you have many questions, and I don't have the answer to all of them. This world is being invaded by creatures of the Void, and we need your help to stop them. If you follow us we will explain everything we know." Mercenaries began to march. The dragons told them that the portal the abyss creatures were using to reach this dimension altered space and time, creating a vortex that transported them to this dimension, and there was no way to go back. The soldiers, left with no other choice accompanied the dragons to the eternal battle. Repoured Todo: Write lore for "5 years later" Chocolate Quest Repoured Races Abyss Walkers Walkers were created in The End by Nocturna. They were sent through a portal to the top of the Impregnable Fortress, beginning the Void Invasion. After their defeat to the denizens of the surface world, they tried to retreat through the portal they used to get to enter the world. But Nocturna, angry because they had not fulfilled their mission, blocked the portal and enclosed them in this unfamiliar dimension. The Walkers, betrayed by their creator and with the enemy quickly approaching, began to look for a path of retreat. Although two dragons had fallen, Ourobora was still roaming across the skies. The Walker commander from atop the fort gave orders to move north, where the enemy line was weakest. Ourobora saw walkers retreating north,and he moved to cut off the retreating Walkers. The walker commander, in a move of desperation, leapt from the fortress and plunged his sword into Ourobora, felling the dragon from the sky. Without the threat of the dragons the troops cut a path northward and settled in cold and inhabited places. Dwarves Dwarves are expert engineers who used to live in forests. They created wondrous constructions - the most notable being the Impregnable Fortress, an immense fortress in the sky sustained by a single pillar, created using an ancient stone - hard but lightweight. To this day, no other races know the source of the stone. During the Fire Wars, Dwarves established their homes on mountains and in caves, hiding from goblin attacks. During these years, the only place on the surface where Dwarves could be seen was in the Impregnable Fortress, though it's still a mystery as to how they kept it supplied throughout the years. In the caves, they discovered minerals and gunpowder, and they researched the technology to craft golems and fire weapons. In modern times, Dwarves have immense empires hidden underground and are dedicated to mining and trade, though they will sometimes lend their golems to protect human settlements. Humans Humans appeared in the surface to bring peace near the end of the the Void Invasion. After turning the tide of battle and driving back the Abyss Walkers, Humans had a meeting with the leaders of the different races at a Cocoa farm, and there, they signed the Cocoa Treaty, establishing peace for many years. Some of the humans established in villages and spent their lives on trade. Others were corrupted by the draw of Void magics and now are dedicated to witchery, while still others some other have taken to piracy or mercenary work. These days pirates and witches lost human reputation as peacemakers and the Cocoa Treaty was forgotten, now with the appearance of the undead at night there is no time to conflicts between different races but there are some old misgivings between races. There are different human factions, the biggest one is "Diurna Inquisition", they are guided by "Diurna" and their mission is to fight against the night forces and discover the cause of their spawn. Their main suspicions fall on the Abyss Walkers. "Diurna Inquisition" is supported by most of the different races in the world, and so they are capable of deploying many different technologies to adapt the situation Orcs & Goblins Goblins and Dwarves were the first known species that inhabited the surface, but one day goblins went crazy and started fires all around. That caused conflicts with dwarves and started the "Fire wars", until orcs appeared to calm them. Time after the "Fire wars" ended some creatures on the surface started mutating to oversized creatures. Many orcs and goblins had their houses destroyed by those creatures and they adapted to a new lifestyle. Now Orcs and Goblins are nomads, experts on monsters hunting. Tritons Tritons unlike other races are in the world since the beginning of time, also they are the only race that has had contact with a god, and unlike other races who see the gods as incorporeal beings, they know that are physical entities. They founded the Arcanumm where they learned the magic by the teachings of Aigua, some houses experimented with magic on animals, it was considered black magic, those houses gained a bad reputation among the Tritons, and the Arcanumm banned any practices of black magic. During the wars of fire these houses surfaced and settled in lakes and rivers to experiment with surface creatures outside the control of the Arcanumm, some experiments failed and caused mutations in some animals and bugs. Tritons have dominated the oceans even before creatures appeared on the surface, they are witty and shy creatures, and it's rare to see them around the surface. The first time they were seen was during the "Fire wars", they tried to calm goblins but could do nothing, it is rumoured that some of them established around lakes and rivers but there is no proof. The second time they were seen on the surface was during the "Abyss Walkers" invasion, they had a great knowledge of "magic" and provided a great support to the other races on the surface, but after the invasion ended they reclaimed some territories which started some conflicts. These days Tritons live in their ocean cities under the menace of pirates.